VMware workstation 5.5 is now available for download. The new features are documented in the release notes. If you've purchased 5.0 you're entitled to a free upgrade (as you have a 18 month upgrade period from the date of purchase).

If you're looking to buy VMware Workstation 5, you can save 5% off your purchase price (I wish I had known about this before I just purchased!). Just use this referral code when you make your purchase (AKA a coupon or discount):

VMRC-AARCOR806

Some useful links: product overview, screen shots, evaulation download, and upgrade FAQ.

The VMware coupon works for any software inlcuding ESX server, GSX server, etc.

Posted by Aaron at 5:37 PM | Permalink

I don't have an extra domain that I want to experiment with, but I'm very curious about this new Microsoft offering: Windows Live Custom Domains. It's in beta, but it would be interesting to check out. Essentially, Microsoft hosts your e-mail and IM accounts in a domain you own with 250MB of space for each e-mail account. There's a FAQ here. If you've tried it, post a comment here or a link. I haven't seen any real chatter in the blog-o-sphere about it (yet).

Posted by Aaron at 10:00 PM | Permalink

What software do you always install on nearly every Windows computer or OS X Mac that you own? What are your top ten?

I've compiled my starter list of things I could think of, but will continually update it. I'm probably missing out. I don't usually go too nuts with lots of little one-off developer tools and such, but I'm interested in hearing if there are some things I should definitely consider adding to my "must install" list. Leave a comment with your ideas.

Here's my must install list. I've started with Windows, as that's what I know. I haven't installed too much on my Mac yet that I'd consider "must have." But I'm learning and looking.

Posted by Aaron at 9:10 PM | Permalink

In the continuing saga of how cool WPF/Avalon is ... I've gone ahead and styled the combo box inside the rich text control -- it's not really "stylin'" by any means ... as matter of fact, it's quite ugly. However, that's not the point that I'm trying to make. I'm thrilled that I CAN style the combo box if I need to, and that it's not too overly difficult. It's a bit clumsy, but it's mostly logical. Here's a couple of snippets from the XAML:

....

<Popup Placement="Bottom"
Focusable="False" HasDropShadow="True"
IsOpen="{Binding IsDropDownOpen, BindsDirectlyToSource=False, RelativeSource=/TemplatedParent}"
PopupAnimation="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemParameters.ComboBoxPopupAnimationKey}}"
MinWidth="{TemplateBinding ActualWidth}"
MaxHeight="{TemplateBinding MaxDropDownHeight}">
<Border x:Name="DropDownBorder" BorderThickness="1,1,1,1"
BorderBrush="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.WindowFrameBrushKey}}">
<Border.Background>
<SolidColorBrush Color="#FFFFFFFF"/>

....

And here is the styled combo box. Notice the standard drop down has been replaced with the world's most boring button -- a solid color ellipse!

Posted by Aaron at 9:09 PM | Permalink

Wow! The Virtual Server 2005 R2 is priced to move at $99 for the standard license and $199 for the enterprise license. Most excellent.

Posted by Aaron at 9:07 AM | Permalink

I attended today one of the many Ready to Launch Events sponsored by Microsoft to drive awareness of the new Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 features.

Oh my. I've been to boring courses, but this was DRY. And SLOW. And useless. If you've kept up with the never ending saga of "soon to be released" news and articles regarding Visual Studio and SQL Server at all within the past year or so, this should be a (limited) review.

Here's my analogy:

PDC 2005 in LA = Fast and the Furious
Ready To Launch (Local) = Driving Miss Daisy

The good: For attending and filling out a very brief survey, I received a full copy of Visual Studio 2005 Standard edition and a single user license of SQL Server 2005. The better: they didn't care when I left 2 and a half hours into the four hour session.

Bad: The guy presenting barely knew the material -- if anything was outside of the script he seemed to fall apart. As a representative of Microsoft trying to sell this stuff to us ... I expect someone knowledgeable. It didn't seem like he'd really used some of the stuff he demo'ed to us.

Posted by Aaron at 9:34 PM | Permalink

I'm going to work on this ... but I wanted to do it in steps. Essentially a rich text box with a cool interactive, in-line, combo-box. First step is to make the basics work with a simple data binding.

Try doing this in Win32 programming!

<Grid.Resources>
	<ResourceDictionary>
		<XmlDataProvider x:Key="ListDS" 
		Source="Data.xml" d:IsDataSource="True"/>
	</ResourceDictionary>
</Grid.Resources>

<ColumnDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
<RichTextBox x:Name="myRichTextBox" Margin="88,98,210,126"
	Width="Auto" Height="Auto" 
	RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5">
	<FlowDocument AllowDrop="True" IsEnabled="False" 
	IsHyphenationEnabled="False">
	<Paragraph><Run>This is so cool. A combo box 
		floating in the text region of the rich 
		text control.</Run>

	<InlineUIContainer>
	<ComboBox IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True" 
	x:Name="embeddedCombo" 
	RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5" 
	Width="150" Height="23" IsEnabled="True" 
	DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource ListDS}, XPath=/List/ListItem, Mode=Default}" 
	ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource ListDS}, XPath=/List/ListItem, Mode=Default}" 					
	SelectedValuePath="{Binding XPath=/List/ListItem, Mode=Default}" />
	</InlineUIContainer></Paragraph>
	</FlowDocument>
</RichTextBox>

Posted by Aaron at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (1)

Very cool product for Mac OS X, WindowShade X. The two features I like: "Make Window Transparent" and the "Minimize-In-Place."

So, does anyone know of a software application with those features, in particular the minimze feature for Windows XP?

Thanks to Dug for pointing me at this application.

Posted by Aaron at 8:10 PM | Permalink

Anyone using or seen any good reviews of Google Analytics? A tiny bit of javascript must be present on all tracked pages.

Posted by Aaron at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was looking at a new camera bag for my digital SLR, a Nikon D70. I came across Crumpler bags. Even if you have zero interest in buying a bag of any sort (they sell more than just camera bags), you need to go to this site. It's the craziest consumer shopping site I think I've ever come across. Check out the big red button in the lower right corner of the web site. Use the chain when you're through! (And that's not all, there's all sorts of other oddities strewn about!).

Posted by Aaron at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Microsoft has provided a complete listing of all current Xbox titles which will be playable on the Xbox 360. It's got at least 200 titles. It's got the ones I still play (what about you?). This might renew my interest in getting a 360. It does require a system with a hard drive. Supposedly many of the games actually will look better on the 360 as they can be upconverted to HD and also can take advantage of the new anti-aliasing support.

There are some screen shots at Bungie of the potential improvements in Halo 2. Halo 2 also can take advantage of 720p wide screens, which is especially nice for single-box multiplayer action. In the last screen shots, Bungie must have used some extremely low poly-count planets -- check them out in the background of the image.

Posted by Aaron at 2:29 PM | Permalink

What font do you use in your code or text editor?

I'm tired of Courier New as my monospace editor font. Lucidia Console is a bit bold for my liking.

In the past, I've used ProFont. However, in Visual Studio 2005, it's acting very strangely, with some characters nearly overlapping in places. I've switched to another free font, Proggy Clean (at 12 pt). It's clean, easy to on the eyes, and has a unique zero.

Others have found Anonymous to their liking, but I couldn't see using it for normal coding. It probably would look better in print or on a image.

Anyone prefer using a non-monospaced font? If so, which one (and for what type of development)?

Posted by Aaron at 9:12 PM | Permalink

If you're into building your own PVR/DVR you may want to know that BeyondTV was just upgraded to version 4. Major new features include ability to record HDTV and the ability to record in the DivX video format. I've tried older versions, but none of them were as polished as I would have liked.

They've got a few bundles for HDTV (off the air) that I'd be interested in hearing more about or trying.

Minimum system requirements for digital:

* Intel� Pentium�, AMD Athlon� processor at 1.7 GHz or higher
* 512 MB Ram
* ATI Radeon 9550 or NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 or Higher
* 40 GB of available hard drive space (this will allow 5 hours of HD Recording)
* BDA Compliant ATSC Capture Card
* Windows XP Service Pack 2

I just might go for it ... I've wanted to see what all the fuss over HDTV is ... (no, I don't own an HDTV).

Posted by Aaron at 7:49 PM | Permalink

I'm sure this is making the rounds, but Microsoft, through Nov. 6, 2006 has priced the Visual Studio Express editions at a price that is hard to beat: FREE! Start at the Express edition web site for information.

It really is free too -- the products can be used even for commerical software development projects.

If you're looking to learn .NET, this is a great way to get started. Pick your favorite edition and download it today!

Posted by Aaron at 1:36 PM | Permalink

A handy and free component from Josh Einstein which provides a remote access to a TraceListener via a Telnet session.

Posted by Aaron at 5:07 PM | Permalink

OK, not yet.

This isn’t news I’m sure to lots of people … but with every release and new announcement, it’s clear that Google is trying to get access to every piece of information about you — everything you do, from the web pages you see, e-mails, documents (think Open Office), your wireless connection….

The latest is the new Google Desktop. In an annoucement on a Google blog yesterday:

Fans of Google Maps will want to check out Sidebar's new maps panel, which lets you do all the usual cool maps stuff -- local business info, directions, sightseeing -- plus a new one: finding new locations relevant to the web pages and emails you're reading and showing them in your maps panel.

Emphasis added. So, unless there’s something I’m missing, everything is essentially being transmitted back to Google so that these searches can be run. I’m sure it’s silent as well. Of course, it’s not everything (yet), but it’s enough that meaningful searches can be performed. What’s next, a keystroke logger? Every time you search for text in e-mails (maybe stored in Outlook for example), do you want Google to know about it? What if it’s related to your business or some corporate secret?

I’m not a privacy nut by any means, but this goes beyond my comfort level.  What about you? If you’re using g-mail for all of your e-mail, you’ve already given up your e-mail privacy. How much else are you willing to let Google have? Or any company? Is your personal information valuable? Does Google pay you enough in free services (such as their search engine) to provide them this data? Would you be willing to subscribe to a version of Google that guaranteed your privacy?

Posted by Aaron at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As I continue to run through the trial period of Rocket Post, I'm continuing to find some issues.

1. I've turned on automatic spell checking before posting. It works fine, but it tells me that it has spell checked and displays a message box stating the fact. Suggestion: if there aren't any misspelled words, just post.
2. After posting, the post remains open. I don't understand why this would be the default.
3. I like the link dialog box which allows me to search and easily link to older posts.
4. I'm confused by the link dialog box though and the behavior of the first field. It has a drop down for the protocol such as HTTP, but then in the field, it repeats http. I've accidentally left off the http in the Internet address several times (since I'm thinking that because it's in the drop down, I don't need it). If it's left off, it produces a bad link in my post. I'm not sure what a better solution is, but it's a bit too easy to make a mistake.
5. Deleted images. I've dragged images on to my post, only to have them disappear! One easy way to duplicate the problem: Start a new line of text. Hit enter. On that new line, drag an image, and answer "no" to the thumnail. Type anything and then an open quote. The image disappears!
6. I have a network drive where I want to drag pictures from. However, by default, Rocket Post treats the urn as an absolute path and leaves that in my post! I've tried to change my behavior, but I've forgotten to copy the images local on several occasions (and what's worse is that they work for me ... so I don't notice the bad image references until I look at my site elsewhere!). If I try fix the issue by copying them local, RocketPost seems to get messed up.
7. Images are uploaded into the root of my blog. I want to be able to specifiy a subfolder, like "images". That would keep my web site much cleaner.
8. I like the editor generally. It's got the features I want.
9. The spell checker occasionally suggests to fix a word, but I can't see where it's suggesting. I haven't replicated the problem.

Posted by Aaron at 7:54 AM | Permalink

From Brookstone, comes the Tranquil Moments� Sound Therapy System, pictured below.

I like the various sounds it makes, although for sleeping I prefer simple "white noise" rather than the sound of thunderstorms, etc. If you want a nice variety of high quality sounds paired with a decent sounding speaker, it's great. HOWEVER, if you're planning on putting in the bedroom, be warned. By using one of three buttons on the top of the device, you can toggle between twelve unqiue sounds. Each sound is paired with an indicator light. If you like your bedroom dark, you'll need to cover the unit when it's on. It produces a glow easily equivalent to a typical nightlight you might put in a bathroom or hallway (the kind with a bulb, not the green/blue glow kind). Last night I found on their web site (as the only documentation included with the unit is the box itself!), that by pressing and holding the on/off button, the brightness of the light can be adjusted. At it's lowest setting, I still find it to be unecessarilly bright. I turned the unit around and pointed it at a wall. I had been putting a pair of dark socks over the unit (yes, that looked very nice!) to block the light on previous nights, so this is a slight improvement.

I would call this 'nightlight' feature a critical failure in the unit's design. Either allow me to toggle the light completely off, or have it automatically fade off after selecting a new sound program.

One other oddity I noticed, unlike most audio devices which provide a completely inaudible to 'loud' setting, this device clips at a low volume rather than allowing a complete range of volume. The clip isn't terrible, but, again, I don't see why it works that way.

Not recommended unless you, already have a lot of light in your bedroom, or wouldn't mind adding some additional light. If you're not planning on using it in the bedroom or where darkness matters, it's a nice unit.

Posted by Aaron at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In a previous post, I asked what makes a Mac more glamorous than other options. Faruk left an nice comment and mentioned in particular that the Address Book in the Mac OS X was fun. Rather than just aimlessly play around, I just tried the venerable address book in Windows and the one that ships with OS X 10.4.3 and compared the two experiences. I've captured a handful of images that I'll talk briefly about. I'll keep score along the way.

1) Application icon:

OS X

Windows

And for absolute fair comparison, here's a full sized icon:

Winner: OS X.

Comment: Hardly fair in a practical sense as Windows default icons are 32x32 typically. However, I'll still award this one to the OS X address book as it's a nicer icon. The Windows icon, especially at small sizes, is overly detailed and hard to easily identify.

2) Initial experience. What does the user see?

OSX

My name (Aaron) is already in the list as I'm the owner of the machine. It's subtle, but it also labels it as "me." Nice touch.

Windows

Winner: OS X.

Comments: It's not a clear huge winner, but OS X edges out the Windows counterpart for a handful of minor reasons:

• It's a relatively clean user interface. A contact "view" is opened rather than showing a large list of names and e-mail addresses as would be the case in the Windows address book.
• I hadn't chosen to set up an e-mail account yet, so the default label in Windows is "Main Identity's Contacts." Yikes! That's about as bad a label as it could get. In absence of a name, I would have considered "My Contacts" to be a reasonable alternative.
• The Windows address book application shows up for the first time cut off on the side and requiring a horizontal scroll bar (and it has cut off the edge of the search field!)
• Inconsistent wording in Windows: People vs. a contact. Why are different terms used?
• Mac however wastes some space and shows a scroll bar, even though the entry for Apple would have fit nicely without scrolling.

3) Adding a new person.

OS X

On OS X, the "+" button below the "Name" list is clicked to start the process of adding a new entry in the Address Book.

Windows

On Windows, clicking the "New" button, followed by "Contact" adds a new entry.

Winner: Tie

Comments: The OS X entry is interesting, if inconsistent with most other applications. It's pleasent to work with however and easily understood with a small bit of experimentation. The Windows address book, although not interesting, is very consistent with standard Windows applications, meaning most users should have no trouble completing the task of adding a new entry. The downside of the Windows address book is the sheer volume of tabs and entry fields that are available. The OS X address book hides many values, but still presents the most common. To add additional values, such as an e-mail address, the user must click the small green "+" symbol next to the type of value they want to add. Depending on the field, they'll be able to switch the type to something more specific, like "work" e-mail instead of "home."

4) Data validation. Does the application do reasonable data validation on the behalf of the user?

OS X

Windows

Winner: Windows

Comments: OS X, from what I could determine, offered no data validation for my test field, the e-mail address. The Windows address book displayed the error above.

5) Grouping -- can contacts be grouped easily?

OS X

Windows

Winner: OS X

Comments: The OS X grouping feature wins only because it's simpler. It's probably less full featured, but likely most users won't do much grouping anyway. Microsoft address book adds complexity by providing both the notion of folders and groups. Folders are for logical containment only.

Overall winner: OS X

Comments: OS X did win in this round of tests, but not by a huge margin. It offers some minor wins, primarily in the aspect of simplicity. The Windows address book, while functional, suffers primarily from being a bit bloated and somewhat dated. The overall experience prize definitely goes to the OS X address book as it's just more polished. The OS X address book can also store photos (and easily take photos using an attached web cam which is a nice feature). I'm not sure how many people use that feature though -- it's not very practical to have a web cam ready when you're adding a new contact AND have the person in front of your computer. It's fun, but obtaining photos from photo-shy people can be tricky!

Posted by Aaron at 9:24 PM | Permalink

I was looking at some of the "search" key phrases that my web site is getting briefly this morning. A while back, I posted about this useless error that Outlook was giving me.

"the messaging interface has returned an unknown error"

After posting, a commenter believed that it was simple enough and that restarting Outlook would solve the problem. I find it interesting that I'm getting a number of hits on the page -- more than likely looking for help, not because they want to see my imaginary witty banter. Well, I could hope.

They're likely searching for help that Microsoft did not provide when the error dialog is shown. Solution is still simple: (File -> Exit, then restart outlook from your Start menu). Sorry, but I don't know what specifically causes the problem. Network glitch, sun-spots, static discharge, etc. It doesn't tell me either.

Posted by Aaron at 7:53 AM | Permalink

Did I do something to cause this?

The icons are overlapping now. I installed the 10.4.3 update the other night and now this is happening.

Finder ? View ? Clean Up seems to fix it. But I'd like to know what caused it.

Posted by Aaron at 7:45 AM | Permalink

I was ever so slightly inspired by the CSS Reboot Fall 2005 that I spent the evening redoing my web site.

New colors, new fonts, new layout. All new. Not that exciting really. Absolutely nothing groundbreaking.

I eliminated features I never use on anyone's blogs, such as the calendar and the lists of recent posts. I've moved the category list to the far bottom of the page for now. I added an ever present toolbar (except there may be a couple of templates I missed ... oops!).

Posted by Aaron at 9:47 PM | Permalink

On a recent trip, this phone was in one of the hallways near the elevators:

The text, if you can't read it states:

Hotel Operator, Touch "0"

The only button on the phone however...

.... is labeled VOL.

I don't think that's the "0" key they referring to in the clear and concise instructions. Even more interestingly, what would you expect if you hit the "VOL" key anyway? If there was a "VOL +" and a "VOL -", I could probably guess, but only one? It's almost like having just an "OFF" button on your computer (or then again, maybe just an "ON"!).

Posted by Aaron at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)